


Djinn's Digs

by waywardbard



Series: The Future's Nothing New: Further Tales of the Next Generation [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Team Free Will 2.0
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-23 15:04:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/623483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waywardbard/pseuds/waywardbard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asher decides to take on a hunt by himself and bites off more than he can chew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please follow effyeateamfreewill2 on tumblr for more great stories and content in the TFW 2.0 universe.

Asher gripped the wheel tighter to keep his hands from shaking. The adrenaline was coursing through him, and he kept breaking into a smile, like some high dork. That didn’t mean he wasn’t drowning in a wave of terror; but the utter glee at finally going on a hunt surpassed it. And then there was the thrill of doing what he wasn’t supposed to. Mike would _kill_ him if he knew was going off alone.

Not that it was a _real_ hunt. Not actually. He was just following up on some research and instinct. There had been three mispers in the same city in three months, and a quick triangulation on a map and a cross reference to property data found one handy, empty warehouse where any kind of monsters might be lurking. Or not. So why tell a hunter when he could just check it out himself and make sure. It was just an extension of research.

Of course, that argument still wouldn’t keep Mike from killing him.

As he pulled up to the fenced-off warehouse, he pulled out his phone, dialing Luke.

“I’m here.”

_“You know, he’s gonna notice you called me,”_ Luke said. _“And then he’s gonna kick_ my _ass for not calling him immediately to tell him where you are.”_

Asher grinned. “Well before he kicks your ass, tell him that if you did that, next time I wouldn’t call anyone and so no one would know if I went missing. He’ll still kick your ass, but he might be thoughtful about it.”

_“That doesn’t even make any sense, you jerk.”_

“Makes sense to me. C’mon, man, it’ll be fine. I’m just scoping the place out. If there’s something in there, I’ll get out faster than a model who wandered into Comic Con.”

_“Yeah, well, rule number one rookie: you shouldn’t be yabbering on your cellphone when you’re supposed to be looking for clues and paying attention to your surroundings. I’ve got your tracker on. If something happens, I’ll be the first to know.”_

“Chill out, I’m still in my car. Just updating you before I go in. Besides, not like there’s much that could hurt me in the middle of the day. Sit tight and I’ll call you back in a few.”

He hung up before Luke could whine at him some more, grabbed the rented bolt cutters from the front seat, and got out of the car. 

Breaking in was an easy thing. There was a lock on the fence but when he got to the building, the door was open. That made every muscle in his body coil and he pulled out his flashlight as he slowly headed in. There was a long hallway lined with windows that, despite being covered in dirt, lit the way up. He headed left. Every step seemed to make too much noise on the cement floor, echoing off the bricks. There was a wooden swinging door ahead, one off its hinges. Beyond was darkness. He flicked on his light, looking in. It was a large warehouse, moldy boxes and crates stacked sporadically around. No sign of movement. He stepped carefully around the broken door, sticking to the left.

There was a faint light somewhere, though it was very dim. He turned a corner around some stacked crates, and froze. There before him was a man, trussed up and hanging from the ceiling. He was connected to some kind of hospital bag. As Asher’s light fell upon it, he could see it was a very dark red.

He didn’t know how long he stood there; it could have been seconds or an hour. But finally his body allowed him to move. He scrambled as quickly and quietly as he could, following his trail to the hallway. The moment his feet hit the sunlight streaming through the windows, Asher breathed a little easier and pulled out his phone, dropping into a speed walk.

_vamp nest. getting out._ That would be all Luke needed for now. He hit send just as something grabbed his neck.

Whatever it was, it was strong. Another arm snaked around his middle, lifting him straight off the ground and dragging him back, his phone clattering to the floor. He kicked back hard, his scream coming out like a rasp past the pressure on his windpipe. His whole body thrashed, expecting any moment to have his throat torn out. 

He was dragged further and further into the depths of the warehouse, the hand on his throat tightening to the point that white fog seemed to tinge around the edges of his vision. Just before he lost all consciousness he was spun around and pinned against the wall. It was a woman, her dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail away from her face. Her eyes glowed with a strange blue light, and an elaborate tattoo curved down the side of her face, along her neck, and down through her shoulder stretching through her fingers. _Not a vampire_ , he thought frozen with shock.

The strange blue glow emitted through her palm, which she brought to his forehead. His eyes rolled and everything went dark.

* * *

With a harsh gasp, Asher sat up, eyes flying wide. It was dark, too dark to even see his hand in front of him. Heart pounding, he pushed to get to his feet, and slammed his head so hard he saw stars. His legs collapsed, so he sat again and held his head, trying to slow his breathing and take in his surroundings. There was very dim light coming in through some windows, and he seemed to be laying on a few blankets over something hard. Reaching out, he found food wrappers and bottles around him. He looked up and found the ceiling about a foot away. He turned around and found...car seats? Shit, he was in a car. Or truck. Or something. How the hell he got here was another matter. Crawling forward, he peered between the two front seats. There in the front cupholder, just where he would put it, was his phone. He snapped it up, scrolling through to Luke’s number and hitting dial. Man was probably worried sick if he’d been out so long it got dark.

It rang twice before being picked up. _“This is Lucas.”_

“Luke man, hey, it’s Asher. Sorry I didn’t call you sooner. I don’t know what happened, man. First there was this woman who was _not_ a vampire, and now I’m in the back of some big ass car with leftover bottles and food, and I got no idea where I am,” he said, looking out the windshield. “There’s trees, but that--”

_“Paulson, are you drunk?”_ Luke interjected, his voice a little incredulous. _“What are you goin’ on about? I haven’t spoken to you since that wendigo case four months ago.”_

Asher blinked, momentarily struck dumb. “Luke, c’mon, I know you’re mad, but don’t mess with me, I’m freaking out here.”

There was a sigh on the other end of the phone. _“I’m hanging up the phone now, Paulson.”_

“Luke!” But the phone was already dead. Asher stared at it, unable to process Luke just hanging up on him. Mike. Mike would help him. He scrolled through his phone. And then again, along the Ms. No Mike. No Michael even. His stomach dropped; no “Mom” either. Frowning, he checked “Bro” then “God” in case Mike had gotten ahold of his phone again. Nothing.

There was at least one number he had memorized, and that was his mom’s landline. He dialed.

“ _We’re sorry. The number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please check the number and dial again._ ”

He sagged back onto the blankets, staring out the window without really looking. It was like the worst kind of nightmare. Eyes widening, he pinched his arm. Nope, that felt real enough. But maybe it wasn’t? He closed his eyes before laying out, pulling a blanket over him. It was dark, he didn’t know what was going on or where he was. Even if this was reality, the only thing he could think of to do right now was sleep. Maybe that was the key. Maybe sleeping would snap him out of it. He curled on himself, eyes squinched shut, just willing it all to be over.

* * *

There was a crick in his whole body. Asher groaned as he rolled over, every part of him protesting. But the sun was glaring in his eyes and there was no staying asleep. He looked up and the beige ceiling of the car looked back. No dream then. He sat up stiffly, running his hands over his face and up into his--

Mother of God, what had happened to his hair. Scrambling over the center console, he jerked the rearview mirror up and stared. It had been shorn close to his scalp, hardly more there than the stubble on his chin. The face looking back at him was no less shocking; lined and leathery, he looked at least ten years older. Had he time travelled? He reached for the glove compartment, pulling out the wallet he knew would be there. Nope. Still 25 years old. Then his eyes fell on what else was in the compartment. More IDs. Drivers licenses, FBI, CIA, CDC, DMV, every damn government acronym he could think of, all for different names. He thought back to last night, how Luke had mentioned a wendigo case.

“Fuck me, I’m a hunter,” he murmured, sitting back in the passenger seat. The _how_ wasn’t too hard to figure out; whatever that creature was, it zapped him into...some kind of alternate world. Tattoos, blue glow, he knew it meant something but the answer stayed right on the edge of his brain.

So he did what he always did when he needed a research answer. He dialed Luke.

It rang twice, then went to voicemail. Before he could ring back, Luke beat him to the chase.

“ _Sleep off the sauce, Paulson?_ ”

“Yeah, sorry about that, man,” Asher said, wincing. He didn’t like lying to Luke. “Just need quick intel. A woman with tattoos over her face and arm and glowing blue eyes and hands.”

“ _Sounds like something on Syfy. What did the tattoos look like?_ ”

“I dunno. Curly. Like script or shapes or something abstract. Can’t believe you don’t know this off the top of your head,” he teased. “You’re starting to lose your touch.”

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, then Lucas said, “ _I’m gonna need a couple days to check my resources. Never heard of anything like this before. Is this your new number?_ ”

“Yeah, sure,” Asher said, lips pursing awkwardly. Guess he really wasn’t that close to Luke in this world. “Give me a call soon as you got any answers.”

“ _Yep._ ” Then the line went dead.

Asher felt something very small in him snap and he had the urge to just curl up and try to sleep again. But that wouldn’t get him any closer to home. Steeling himself, he opened the door, stepped out in his stocking feet, and looked around the woods. He was clearly off-roading it, no asphalt in sight, and no sound of other people or cars. Looking around quickly, he tugged open his pants and let out a stream.

“You do realize you parked less than a mile away from a truckstop, loser?”

Asher let out what could only kindly be called a scream. It stopped him short, painfully so, but he shoved himself in before whipping around. And then the whole world stopped.

“Erika,” he croaked, relief washing over him as he stumbled forward, intent on hugging her.

She took it one step further, arms circling around his neck to press her lips against his. Asher yelled again, jerking back fast.

“The _fuck_?!”

Erika looked affronted for a moment, then scowled at him. “Yeah. Nice to see you, too.” She turned around to pick up a gas can that sat on the ground, moving over to where his car was currently parked. “Y’know, I got out here s’fast as I could. Next time I’ll just leave your ass out here to fend for yourself.”

Rubbing a shaking hand over his face, Asher shook his head. His fucking sister-in-law had kissed him. It was like junior high fantasies all over again. “Look, sorry, been a rough night.” Biting his lip, he tentatively added, “Where’s Mike?”

Erika was already working the hose into the gas tank, holding up the can. She looked over her shoulder at him with a frown.

“Who?”

Asher tried to keep his expression blank as he shrugged and turned away. “Never mind.” No Mike. No Mike and Erika. No Cole. His stomach clenched; he’d fix it, he would.

He could feel Erika’s eyes on him a few seconds longer before she let out a humorless laugh. “What’s gotten into you today?”

“I must’ve been on a helluva bender last night is all. Drunk dialed Luke and everything.”

“Lucas Barr?” Erika prompted, then let out a snort of a laugh. “Yeah, be careful there. He’s been in a really crappy mood lately. One of his associates just got out by the skin of her teeth from being kidnapped by some demons.”

The door of the gas tank slapped shut. “So am I following you?”

Asher turned, blinking at her. “Um... Where, exactly, are we going?”

“Back to your hotel?” she said slowly. “So we can go compare maps?”

Oh this hole was just getting deeper. “Fuck,” he breathed out, maybe a little too loud. “I can’t remember where the hotel is.”

Erika rolled her eyes at him. “Check your wallet pocket. You probably stuck the receipt in there.”

Asher could have hugged her again, except there was no telling what she might do. He jumped into the car, pulling out his wallet. “Yes, score! Alright, sure, I’ll lead the way.” He paused. “Hey, thanks for driving out to rescue my ass.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she grumbled, though there was a fondness in her smile as she moved past his door. “You’d lose your damn head if it weren’t for me. Seeya inna bit.”

Accessing the GPS on his phone, Asher had no problem leading the way, pulling on a pair of boots he’d never seen before and hopping out. G45 was the room number; it took them a little longer to find it than he would have liked, but he soon had the door open and let her through first.

“I drove all damn night to get here, you know,” she said as she moved past him, finding the light switch on the inside wall sharing the door and moving to fling her bag onto the bed. 

He pursed his lips, blushing slightly. “Sorry,” he said as he locked the door. “Thank you. That had to suck.”

“You’re lucky I’m between cases right now.” Her lips pulled into one cheek as she cocked a hip at him and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s a lot of letters in your phone you had to go through in order to get to me.”

For a moment, all Asher could do was stare. The situation was utterly alien; he’d never been alone in a room with Erika before. And she wasn’t acting differently, exactly, but there was a different cadence about her. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Oh? ‘E’ doesn’t seem that far along.”

Her brows lifted and she tugged her phone out of her pocket, thumbed across the screen, then tapped it. Giving the phone a little shake in her hand in his direction, his phone rang a half-second later. Raising an eyebrow, Asher pulled it out. A pair of tits flashed onto the screen, above the label “Really Good Fuck.” He quickly hit “reject,” pocketing it again.

“Alright, so a few more letters.”

She snickered, her head tipping to the side and her hair falling into her face. 

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen you _blush_ before,” she commented, then turned to open up her bag. “Interesting.”

_I’ve fucked Erika_. The phrase ran over and over in his head. He had to get out of whatever world this was. “So, does a tattooed woman with glowing blue eyes ring any bells?”

“I try not to think of your other girl fridays, sweetie,” she said, tugging out a folded-up paper map and bringing it over to the table. “Are we gonna do this thing or what?”

He looked around the room; no obvious map lying about. “Uh, yeah. Just let me figure out where I put it.”

“I’m not sure I agree with your theory,” Erika told him even as he started searching. “Vampires don’t have _conventions._ Nerds do, sure, but I really doubt vamps have anything they need to do in cosplay.”

“They could be cosplaying hunters,” he said dryly, not finding anything in the desk. Scowling, he looked around, then moved to the closet. With a victorious cry, he pulled out the map that had been pinned to the door.

“And what exactly would that accomplish?” she asked him, looking over her shoulder at him. The pose was very suggestive. Swallowing, Asher hesitated before walking around to the other side of the table to lay out his map.

“Vampires can’t do things for fun?”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure they do things for fun. Like play with their food,” she commented with an edge of bitterness. Hooking one ankle around a chair leg, she dragged it up beneath her and sat. Taking off her jacket, she revealed a low-cut, tight-fitting shirt. It was made that much more obvious as she leaned over the table to start adding her map’s marks and lines to his.

Asher’s eyes flicked to the ceiling. He could just wait until she was done, then look at the map. No need to watch while she was working.

“Seriously,” she said without looking up at him. “What’s gotten into you? First running out of gas, and now this-- you’re acting weird.”

“I don’t know how else to act right now,” he said, feeling a lump in his throat. _I just want to go home_.

Her eyes lifted to look up at him, and for a moment there was genuine concern in her expression.

“I know you’ve been after this nest for a while,” she said quietly. “But if you keep goin’ the way you are, you’re gonna get yourself killed. You don’t have to do this by yourself.”

He finally met her eyes, swallowing hard. He didn’t know what exactly this version of himself had been up to, but that was true enough. He didn’t want to be alone in this. “Okay. Probably good if I take the backseat a little while,” he admitted.

Erika frowned, putting the pen down and standing to move around the table.

“I’m not sayin’ that,” she said, finding his hands and giving them a squeeze. “This is your hunt. Your catharsis. I just wanna help you.”

Ice ran down his spine. _Catharsis_. He’d heard hunters use that tone before. _Oh god. Where’s Mike? Where’s Mom?_ His hands shook slightly in hers, but he tightened his jaw, trying to stay firm. “Okay,” he said, his voice rough.

Her hands slid out of his and around his neck again, but she didn’t kiss him like before. She just hugged him, tight and hard, her cheek resting against his neck. He let himself sag against her, relief and terror in equal quantities. She was the one familiar thing in this world, even if that familiarity was a bit skewed.

“I’m fine,” he said.

“Ash,” she said quietly. “I’ve seen you in various states of drunk and disorderly. You don’t have to play tough guy with me.” Her arms shifted, sliding around his middle instead.

“I know. I just want to get this done,” he said quietly. Maybe that was the key. Maybe this was some kind of test, and if he just finished this hunt, he could go back home, like some fucked up Dorothy in Oz.

“And you will,” she said, hugging him tighter. “You’re a great hunter. One of the best.”

The storm inside him grew quiet, his back straightening. So it was true; in this world, he could hunt. And he would prove to whatever creature sent him here that it didn’t matter what world he was in. He could kill the nest and pass the test and then he’d go home.

Patting her back, he pulled away. “Thanks. So let’s get these fuckers.”

Her expression was a little confused again, but she settled back in the seat across from him. “I’m gonna get my friend Marin on the phone. She might have a few lamps we could borrow for back-up in case a few of the bastards decide to wake up from their nap a little early.”

Asher sat heavily. “Alright, sounds good,” he said, voice a little far off as he started to think over what he knew about vampires. Could be out in the sun briefly, but it wasn’t a picnic. Immortal, yes; crosses, no. Dead man’s blood could slow them down, decapitation finished them. He felt a little dizzy but clenched his hands until it passed.

Erika spoke quickly to her associate, her eyes on Asher’s face the whole while before she bumped her knee against his under the table and pulled a face at him. Once she hung up she slid the phone back into her pocket.

“She’ll be here in about 14 hours. That’ll give us some more time to round up everything else we might need.”

His eyes focused on her. “But... it’ll be night then. We can’t go after them at night,” he said slowly.

She gave him a weak smile. “How many stakes y’got prepped up?”

“Um, let me check the closet. And possibly the car,” he said, getting up and rummaging for a duffel bag. “Looks like ten in here.”

“Y’planning on recycling there, Mr. Gore?” she teased, going back to her own bag. “I’ve got about fifteen, not counting the bolts for the crossbow.”

“...I’ve probably got more in the car. I was out last night, after all,” he pointed out.

“So _that’s_ why you were in the woods?” she asked, brows lifting and smirking at him. “Too cheap to buy cedar?” She tutted at him. “No wonder you’re edging on ripe. I didn’t wanna say anything, but y’know.”

Asher felt his face grow warm. “I could go take a shower.”

“Toss me the keys. I’ll get what you have in the trunk and start workin’.”

He felt no small amount of relief as he tossed them over. “When I come out, maybe you could debrief me on your thoughts? My head’s been all over the place; it’d be good to get a fresh, clean look at the situation.”

“You’re the boss,” she said, twirling the key ring on one finger as she slid through the door.

He had to admit, a shower was a brilliant plan. As the hot water sluiced over him, he finally felt able to breathe. It was just a matter of facing what was right in front of him and not stressing over anything else. Granted, what was in front of him was vampires, but Erika was more than capable. They’d do fine together.

The air shifted slightly, colder for just an instant. Then he felt two hands slide up his back and around to his chest, followed by a slightly cooler but very supple body. He jerked forward with a shout, his feet sliding, but her grip only tightened on him to keep him upright.

“Erika?” he said, voice strangled, as he looked back. _Oh fuck, oh fuck, those are her breasts pressed against me_. She let out a little laugh, giving his left nipple a tweak, and he felt the blood rushing to his cock.

“Who were you expecting?”

He couldn’t stop his mind from conjuring up what she must look like behind him, naked and confident and sexy as hell. “W-we shouldn’t do this.”

“God, you have the startle point of a colt. I’ve _never_ been able to sneak up on you like this before. It’s either that, or I’m improving.” She kissed the back of his neck, her hands shifting to knead his hips, her fingertips trailing along the shape of a much more sculpted torso than he remembered having. “Relax, tough guy.”

_It would be so easy_. “No. I don’t _want_ to do this.”

Her hands went still, but didn’t move away. She was quiet for a long time before saying, in a barely audible voice, “I’m sorry, okay? It was a bad month. I thought you’d be a little more understanding.” Her hands finally left him as she started to pull back but he grabbed for her hand, trying not to look at her. 

“Don’t, please. It’s not your fault. Just... I need to focus on this hunt. That’s all,” he lied. “Anyone in their right mind would want what you’re offering, but I’m not in my right mind.”

“Then just let me help you relax,” she said, coaxing and sincere. “I promise I won’t pin you down and force you, if you really don’t want to.”

His eyes fell on hers, intent, pretending she was invisible from the neck down. “I won’t be able to stop myself. You’re too...amazing. If I give in a little--” She cut him off swiftly, pressing her mouth against his, arms wrapping around him once again like she had in the room. Only this time there was no double-layer of cloth between them. _Oh god_ , she was so soft and warm, and she needed him, no one ever needed him....

He languished against her mouth a moment before jerking back. There was no other choice, not if he wanted to be able to look the real Erika in the eye again. “I’m not Asher!”

For a moment she blinked at him in surprise and shock. Then a switch seemed to flip, and quicker than he could blink she had swept his legs out from beneath him, bringing him down onto the bathtub’s floor hard, knocking the air from his lungs.

“Wait!” he gasped, trying to sit up. Her arm braced down against his shoulders as she straddled him, high on her knees, her face fierce.

“I knew something was wrong,” she said with a snarl. “Ash wouldn’t act the way you’re acting. What the hell are you then? A skinwalker? _What have you done with him!?_ ”

“N-nothing,” he sputtered, trying to blink away the steady shower of water but eventually just closing his eyes. “I’m...look, it’s complicated, and I’m not even clear on things, but the best I can figure out, I’m Asher from another dimension.”

“ _Bullshit_ ,” she hissed. “You’ve got ten seconds, you bastard, before I put you under.”

That jolted him, eyes opening despite not being able to see. “No, Erika, _please_ ,” he begged. “I just want to go _home_. You saved my brother Michael from vampires and you married him and you have a little boy named Cole and I only do research stuff but I _can’t_ die, I have to take care of my mom, please.”

The weight on her arm lifted but only a little, as she stared down into his face. Her eyes were round and her expression solemn.

“You never told me his name before.”

Asher’s heart sank. “What...what happened to him?” he asked, already regretting the question.

“Vampires,” she said flatly, getting up off of him and stepping out of the shower.

Sitting up, Asher wiped the water from his face but didn’t quite have it in him to stand. Erika hadn’t saved him in this world. Why? “Is that...is that why I became a hunter?”

“How the hell would I know? I didn’t even know your-- his brother’s _name._ You think he’d sit down and just tell me his whole life story? I was just--...” Her voice cut off sharply. “You know what, forget it. You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying here, where it’s safe.”

“What? No.” That gave him the spine to stand. “Look, there was this creature, with tattoos over her face and blue glowing eyes. She sent me here for some reason, and that wasn’t to just sit around.”

“I’m not letting you break him!” she snapped. “You’re in _his body._ And if something happens to it, then it’s my fault, so don’t you _dare_ try to play cops and robbers in it, y’hear me?” The door opened, and slammed shut.

He scrambled out of the shower, flicking it off and pulling on a towel before following her. “I’m not some damn neophyte. I’ve been in this business for _years_.”

He found her in her underwear, bent over from the middle as she pulled on her pants. “That right? How many notches in your belt, padawan?”

Lips pursed, he shook his head. “Just because I haven’t been in the field much doesn’t mean I don’t know anything.”

She turned around to look at him, still in her bra, her skin flushed and still glistening from the shower water and her damp hair sticking to her neck.

“How many?”

His eyes flicked to the floor. “None. Michael wouldn’t let me.”

“ _Look at me_ , Asher.”

Licking his lips, he met her eyes. Her face was hard. It was a familiar look. 

“What do you think happens to him if he’s in your body and you kill his?”

Asher’s shoulders sagged. “Okay. You have a point.”

Her eyes softened slightly and she looked off to the side before turning and picking up her shirt to pull it on.

“I’ll take care of the vampires. Then we’ll start looking for your weeping angel.”

Pursing his lips, Asher said quietly, “They’re the ones who killed Michael, aren’t they?”

Her hand slid through her damp hair and she sighed, giving her head a shake as she went to her bag and pulled out a knife.

“All I know is he’s been hunting this particular nest for as long as I’ve known him.” She brought a large duffel bag over to a chair, unzipping it and pulling out a large branch. He watched, feeling odd. The whole conversation was like some bizarre out-of-body experience.

“How long have you known him?”

Her lips twisted up into one cheek. “‘Bout seven years? Give or take. We ran into each other working the same case.”

Asher wanted to ask what exactly their relationship was, but that felt like an oddly intimate question. “Sorry to disappoint you,” he said with a self-conscious shrug.

She shrugged in response, pulling the branch between her knees and adjusting it to point outward before she unsheathed the knife. Using practiced strokes, she began to carve away the sides, shaping it into a point.

“I just wanna keep him safe.”

He nodded silently before going to the closet and pulling out some clothes. Clothes that weren’t his. Frowning slightly, he went back into the bathroom without a word.


	2. Chapter 2

Erika’s contact came right on schedule, breaking the strained silence that had settled between them. To further cement her earlier statement, she met Marin at her car rather than inviting her into the hotel room. Asher watched pressed against the windowsill, just able to see through a small crack in the curtains. The two women talked quickly, and at one point Marin looked past Erika and toward the window before passing the other woman a long, black bag. They continued to talk a moment more before Erika shook her head, gesturing back toward the hotel. Marin gave her shoulder a squeeze, then headed toward the front office as Erika re-entered the room, Asher nonchalantly paging through a book as he walked to the bed.

He looked up, eyes resting on the black bag before rising to her face, his eyes wide in question.

“Sun’s gonna rise in about six hours,” she said gravely as she carefully setting the bag down next to the rest of her belongings. “So I’m gonna sleep.”

He nodded, licking his lips. What was there to say, after all? It wasn’t like he had a reason to sleep. “I’m going to go out to the truck, sort through a few things?” He didn’t mean for it to come out as a question, but right now it was like she had more right to the body he was in than he did.

Erika chewed her lower lip, looking at him hesitantly before nodding. Moving to the bed, she grabbed a pillow and the top blanket off of it before moving toward the two club chairs. Asher was instantly at his feet, grabbing the pillow from her.

“Hell no. You get the bed.”

Erika blinked at him in surprise, then gave him a wry smile.

“It’s your room, and I’m smaller than you. I don’t need a queen size bed. But thank you for the offer.”

“You’re the one facing down vampires in six hours; that trumps just about anything,” he said, not letting go of the pillow.

“I’ve slept on worse surfaces for less time and fought much more upsetting critters, Ash,” she countered, though her voice and expression were much softer.

“Not for me. Him.” Asher’s brows furrowed. “Us, I guess. But if your Ash was here, he wouldn’t let you sleep on the chairs. So I won’t either.”

Something in her eyes seemed to break and then a mask slid up into place, but that one was familiar, too. So much of the way she acted was like the Erika he’d grown up knowing. 

“Do I seem the kind of person who gets let to do anything?” she asked, her voice firm.

“God, don’t pull that card out,” Asher said, rolling his eyes. “I’m going to the truck. When I come back, I am not going to sleep on that bed. So if you sleep on the chairs, it means I have to sleep on the floor and a perfectly good bed goes to waste.”

Before he managed to take a full step toward the door, she grabbed his arm, her grip hard. “Doesn’t matter which version you are, you’ve always been a stubborn ass,” she snapped.

He couldn’t help it; he grinned. “I’m okay with that.”

“You’re not sleeping on the goddamn floor,” she said, her words chasing the tail-end of his. “If I have to knock you out and tie you to the bed, I will.”

“Now who’s being stubborn?” Asher said, raising his eyebrows. “C’mon, go get some sleep. You’ll want it later.”

Her nails dug faintly into the skin of his bicep before she let go, taking the blanket with her into the bathroom and shutting the door. A thrum of concern went through him, but Asher shook it off. If she was going to be stubborn, that was her own fault. He had other things on his mind. Dropping the pillow, he left the room and headed to the truck.

What would Ash do? That was the important question. Because clearly in this world, he was a smart, capable hunter. He had his shit together and was _helping_ people. It would be all his own fault if he became a useless bump again. So he had to start thinking like another version of himself. And Ash would never sit back while Erika faced down vampires for him.

Not that he would go in guns blazing, but backup never hurt. If things went pear-shaped, he could be the difference between life and death.

Another thing he knew about Ash was that he was still connected with Luke, who seemed his usual, know-it-all self. So Ash wouldn’t rely solely on following Erika around in a giant truck.

It took some time, but eventually he dug out the GPS tracker he knew would be there. Whether Erika liked it or not, he would be following along in six hours time.

* * *

Asher was careful to stay a few miles behind as he followed Erika and Marin. They had gotten up early and eaten a silent breakfast before they hopped in Erika’s car and Asher watched them leave. It made him almost feel guilty, how Erika just trusted him to stay.

It was coming up on 10:30 when the dot on his phone stopped. He pulled to the side of the dirt road and waited, but it didn’t move. They must have reached the nest.

His heart started pounding in his ears, and it felt like he was driving through water as he went to meet them.

The woods were silent when he got out of the truck. No sound of birds or squirrels chattering, and despite the warm sun, goosebumps rose along his arms. He only glanced at Erika’s car before moving forward. It was a moment before he could spot the cabin through the trees. He held his gun - Asher’s gun - tense and pointed at the ground, every step cautious.

He didn’t know how much time had passed as he stood at the woods’ edge, before there was a sharp, inhuman screech, followed by a round of gunshot and silence. Without even thinking, he bolted for the door. Inside there was a small group of vampires, but they were standing in a half-circle with their backs away from him as Erika fought another one, presumably the leader of the nest. She had a deep gash in her cheek that was bleeding heavily, and the vampires seemed hardly able to contain their blood lust. One of them tried to rush forward and grab Erika around the waist, but the leader barked out in an eerily familiar voice:

“LEAVE HER! She’s _mine!_ ”

Aiming at one of the vampires on the edge of the circle, Asher shot it right through the head. He knew that wouldn’t be enough, though, holstering the gun and pulling a machete from his belt as the vampires turned towards him. With a yell, he dove towards them, swinging and lopping off the head of the first he met.

“STOP RIGHT THERE, ASH!”

The voice hit something at the core of him, his body freezing up in the midst of another swing. He turned towards it, towards the center of the crowd, and his whole world collapsed.

“Mike.”

Erika was held up against him back against his chest, his arm around her neck. She gasped, eyes wide and struggling, but couldn’t get out of the hold. This Mike couldn’t have been more than eighteen, but his eyes were older. He sneered, teeth dangerously close to Erika’s throat.

“Been a long time, little bro. How ya been?”

Asher’s breath hitched hard in his chest; everything was so _wrong_ about the scene in front of him.

“Mike, please. Let her go,” he said, his throat tight.

Mike gave a dry laugh which the other vampires echoed a half-second later. It was like being in a den of jackals. 

“Don’t think I will. She came into my home, uninvited, and tried to kill my people. And by the look of it, she’s one of _your_ people. Didn’t we already go over this lesson?”

Asher swallowed, trying to think. “I guess I needed reminding.”

Mike sneered, bringing one hand to sweep back Erika’s hair as he breathed deeply at her throat. Her face twisted up in revulsion, her struggle becoming more intense.

“Your blood smells amazing, sweetheart. How should we do this, hmm? Fast, or slow?”

“ _Bite me,_ ” she hissed. All the vampires laughed.

“You should pick your words a little more carefully, pretty girl.”

Asher’s jaw tightened. “Let her _go_ ,” he snarled, rushing forward.

Two vampires grabbed him around the shoulders and yanked him back hard. Mike laughed again, running his tongue up the length of her neck. Asher jerked violently, giving a yell of frustration.

“YOU DON’T FUCKING NEED HER! LEAVE HER ALONE!”

“Oh, I’ve missed you, little bro,” Mike said, chuckling. “It’s been far too long.”

Marin suddenly appeared behind Erika and Mike, her hand twisting tight in Mike’s hair and yanking back to expose his throat.

“You heard him. Let her go. Don’t make me repeat myself, you fuckin’ leech.”

The other vampires immediately turned and started toward him in defense, but Mike lifted his arm away from Erika’s throat.

“Still must be groggy, not to hear me come up behind you, huh?”

Erika flipped around, yanking her spike out from her boot, but before she could strike him with it, he interjected: “You kill me, and they’ll swarm you like bees.”

“Won’t matter. All of us are gonna die in about five minutes if you don’t let us leave.”

Mike’s expression went flat, then feral. “What?”

“C4, asshole.”

Asher’s eyes went wide and he looked between them. And then he nearly laughed. “Well that’s one way to get it done,” he said. Then he twisted, kicking back and connecting with the vampire’s groin.

The vampire buckled and dropped, and the other immediately tried to grab him, earning a punch to the face. An all-out brawl broke out, but the hunters were vastly outnumbered. Erika mowed through two as Marin and Mike fought, but Mike threw his elbow into her ribs and brought a fist under her jaw. After she’d crumbled to the floor he grabbed Erika by the arm, and the woman shrieked as he broke it.

“Fall back!” he barked loudly, grabbing Erika around the waist and throwing her over his shoulder.

Snatching up his machete, Asher beelined straight after him. The other vampires were all running through the the archway, but one hung back, trying to intercept Asher.

“Rhett, go!”

“Mike--” the vampire tried to argue.

His attention on Mike, Asher had no problem slicing through his neck, charging straight at his brother. Mike dumped Erika unceremoniously on the floor to meet him, grabbing the wrist holding the machete and holding on hard. They were the same height. Mike met his gaze with tempered anger.

“I told you to stay away. You never listen.”

“Yeah, well,” Asher said, breathing hard, “you’re a vampire. Think I still have the moral high ground.”

“Do you _want_ to die?” Mike countered quickly, his voice sharp and high. “I’ve stayed away this whole time, like I said I would. _You’re_ the one who--”

But he didn’t finish. His eyes suddenly went wide as the pointed end of a spike appeared through the middle of his throat. His grip went slack as he tried to reach up and pull it out, but Erika had already grabbed her abandoned machete and swung it with her good arm, separating his head from his body. Asher’s eyes followed his body as he fell slowly to the floor. And then he just stood there, frozen, his mouth slack as he stared at his brother. Erika barely managed to slide the machete into her scabbard on her back, her skin pale and translucent with pain.

“We gotta--” Erika rasped, grabbing his arm. “We gotta get out. Marin wasn’t bluffin’. I was the distraction. C’mon, c’mon--”

“No.” His voice was quiet but firm as he turned to her. “I’m sorry. But this is what he was planning. Asher wasn’t coming back from this.”

Erika’s eyes widened with panic and she shook her head hard, her nails practically piercing through his arm.

“ _No,_ Ash, no--”

It was a sudden, terrible light. Everything seemed to slow down as the fire came at them from all sides, blooming into mushrooms of red, yellow, and orange. Erika’s scream filled his ears.

Gasping, Asher’s vision was suddenly filled with a fuzzy blue. He jerked up and found the hotel room filled with sunlight. _The fuck_?

A dream. A nightmare. He ran a hand over his face, looking around. The bed was empty. His stomach sunk and he scrambled out of the armchairs, grabbing his cell phone and dialing Erika. Just in case. It went straight to voicemail without even ringing, signaling that she had turned it off. Two more attempts resulted in the same, but then there was a jerky knock at the door.

“ _Ash, open up! Please!_ ”

He scrambled to the door, jerking it open. Marin came rushing in, fireman carrying an unconscious Erika, who was badly bruised and bleeding. Even Marin herself seemed badly hurt, but in a better state than their companion.

“There were traps. We almost didn’t make it out. They were already gone.”

“Shit,” he breathed, helping her lay Erika on the bed. “You have a kit? I think I have one in the truck.”

“Where’re your keys?” she said quickly, already looking around for them.

“Table by the door,” he said, already stripping a pillow of its case. He wrapped it tight around Erika’s bleeding arm as Marin hurried out. Erika stirred, her eyes opening slowly, but they were glazed over and her pupils dilated nearly to the rims.

“Asher?” she croaked out.

“Hey, hey, Erika,” he said, cupping her face. “Good girl. Stay awake.”

She gave him a lazy, wide smile, then hacked hard. Blood tinted her lips.

“I di’nt know you were part’a the swim team...”

Marin came back in through the door, the first aid kit in her arms. “She needs ice for her ribs. I think a couple are broken.”

“Right. Right, I’ll go grab it.” Asher went for the bucket in the bathroom before rushing out. It took him less than two minutes. Marin was sitting bedside, stroking her forehead and speaking quietly to her.

“You gotta stay up, baby girl. You can’t check out yet. You barely got scratched, c’mon.”

“Hurts,” she breathed out. Marin’s smile turned strained.

“I know, baby girl, I know. But we’ve got somethin’ that’ll make it all fuzzy, I promise. You just gotta stay up a bit longer, okay?”

Asher’s stomach turned, his steps hesitating a moment before he brought the ice over, stripping off another pillowcase to hold it. “It’s me, Erika. We’re going to make this better, okay?” he soothed, laying the case gently against her side. She cringed and tried to move away, but only cried out in pain from the movement. Marin clutched her hand a little harder, looking up at Asher.

“Her ribs are a little higher up.”

“Sorry,” he said, shifting the makeshift pack. Then his eyes met Marin. “Should we take her to the hospital?”

“Most they’ll do is hook her up to a morphine drip and hold her through the night. Broken ribs are hard to mend except naturally. Everything else we can handle.” Marin looked at him with concern. “I just hope they don’t try’n track us back here.”

Asher’s eyes widened, Mike’s face flashing across his mind. “We could lay her in the back of my truck. I’ve got loads of blankets.”

Marin shook her head. “I have incense in the car. I’ll get it.”

Nodding, Asher sat carefully by Erika’s side, taking her hand. The place had been booby-trapped. That was uncomfortably similar to his dream, except the wrong team got the drop. He scowled. Erika’s hand found his, her grip weak.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Erika said, her voice a little slurred.

“I’m always going to be here,” he said, his other hand covering hers. “Even if I’m useless.”

“Y’er not useless,” she mumbled. “Y’er...”

Marin came in, moving a little more sluggishly than before as the adrenaline had started wearing off. She set up a bowl, dropped in a charcoal block, and lit it. Erika continued to stare blearily up at him.

“Tired.”

“I know,” he soothed, rubbing circles against the back of her hand. “But you can’t sleep yet, okay? How about you tell me some stories? Tell me about the first time you met Asher.”

“There was a changeling clan,” she mumbled. “An’ we both ran into each other at the morgue.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “Very romantic. What did he say to you?”

Her smile tipped into one cheek. “D’you wanna compare notes over coffee?” 

“Yeah? And then what happened?” He kept his eyes on her, still rubbing her hand, trying to give her something besides sleep to focus on.

Marin made a disapproving noise from across the room as she finally dropped the herbs on the smoldering charcoal block, but Erika didn’t hear her.

“Tried to put the moves on me,” she mumbled, eyes hooded. “But I told you not while we’re on the job, Ash. After. So let’s find the bitch, and I’ll break yer bed.”

“Time to give her the pills, Ash.”

Asher was grateful for the distraction; asking “and then what happened?” would’ve just led to awkwardness. He reached to the bedside table, grabbing a glass of water.

“Here, Erika, these are going to make it feel better.”

He had to hold her head up because she couldn’t push up to take it, and she winced terribly, but the pills went down easy. A moment later, Marin’s hand closed around his bicep.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

He frowned slightly but nodded, squeezing Erika’s hand before he got up and followed her outside. Marin ran a hand through her auburn hair, frowning severely. Several dark bruises speckled her arm, and a crusted over gash followed the shape of her cheekbone.

“We need to tape her ribs.”

His frown deepened. “Alright. I’ve never done that before, but I’ll help.”

“She’s going to be screaming, Asher,” Marin said. “There’s gonna be a lot of pain. You’re gonna have to hold her still, and stifle her.”

Asher went still for a long moment before nodding. “Okay. I can do that.”

Marin frowned again, studying his face hard. “When this is over, I have to go. The binding’ll help, but the moment she starts having trouble breathing, or the pain doesn’t start to go down, take her to a hospital. She won’t be able to move for a couple days and when she finally can, she’ll need to go and rest. It’ll be a few weeks before she can go out in the field again.”

“Shit,” he breathed. And it was his fault. “Well I’ll make sure she sticks to that.”

“Damn right you will,” Marin growled, leaning in that much closer and glaring at him. “She wouldn’t even have gotten into this mess if it weren’t for you. I had to practically dislocate her arm to let her have me come along and watch her back, and I’m glad I did. She wouldda fallen into a bloodletting trap and taken _days_ to die. Do you have any idea how _stupid_ the two of you are whenever you’re around each other?”

He felt his shoulders hunch, having trouble meeting Marin’s eyes. “No,” he said quietly.

Marin made an indignant noise at him, then huffed a breath and moved past him, back into the hotel. She left the door open. He waited a few moments more, steeling himself for what he would have to do. It was more and more clear that he was woefully inadequate for this life, but it wasn’t like he had a choice. Closing his eyes, he frowned. The dream last night had felt so real, as real as anything. But he couldn’t take time to worry about that now. He stepped through the door, closing it behind him.

Marin had been right about the screaming. As tired and lethargic as Erika had been when she’d first been brought in, she seemed to struggle and fight like a wild animal the moment they started to work on her. Tears streamed down the sides of her face as she bit down hard on the belt Marin had provided for her and when at last she was properly realigned and taped where necessary, she had passed out from the pain. After leaving Asher with all the pain medication she had in her kit, Marin left. Asher walked the whole perimeter of the room, his movements slightly jerky, trying to find anything to clean and set right. His hands shook and his face finally crumpled. He sat hard on the floor, his back against the armchair, and let himself cry.

It must have been a good ten minutes before he heard a low moan from up on the bed, followed by Erika’s exhausted voice.

“Ash?”

Taking a deep breath, he rubbed at his eyes. “You alright, ‘Rika? You in pain?”

“Where are you, I can’t--” her breath hitched and she whimpered, her head thudding back against her pillow. “Dammit.”

“Don’t,” he said, quickly getting up. “Don’t move at all for the next few days, okay. I don’t want you hurting more.”

Her skin was still pale, but there was a thin gleam to it from the sickly yellow side lamps. Her face twisted up in a little frown and she avoided looking directly at him, running a hand over her hair and letting out a sigh. After a short pause, she brought her eyes up to his face, her lips quirking.

“What’d you call me?”

“Oh. Sorry. Habit from junior high.” He licked his lips. “I was kinda shy when you married Michael. Kinda mumbled your name. It stuck.”

The little quirk to her lips became a real smile, and after a moment more she patted the side of the bed next to her in a silent gesture for him to sit and tell her more. He sat carefully. “Mike hadn’t really brought any girls home before, and I was hitting the hormones hard. You were like this gorgeous alien being.”

Erika started to laugh, but the first bubble of sound out of her was immediately followed by a hiss and a grimace. She took a slow, shallow breath, eyes closed as she fought the little wave of obvious pain, then reopened them again and tipped her head a little to look over at him.

“Hard to picture you as a kid. Let alone an awkward kid. Must’ve been cute as hell, though.”

That was his turn to laugh. “Yeah, if you like acne and a giraffe neck.”

“Two of my favorite things,” she teased gently. Her hand found his and she trailed her fingertips over the top of it before sliding her fingers through the webbing.

He swallowed but didn’t pull back. “What happened to you, after high school? That’s the part of your life I don’t know.”

Erika shrugged one shoulder lightly. “It’s in my blood to hunt. I grew up in the life. Me and my brother paired up for a while, then my little sister when she was old enough for Dad not to freak. Eventually I went off to do my own thing for a while.”

“Your family doing well?”

She gave a breath through her nose, then turned to look at him again. “You keep turning the focus away from you. How much do you honestly want to know about me, seeing as you keep trying to push me away?”

He raised his eyebrows. “I’m not pushing you away, though.”

“But you were. You _have_ been,” she clarified. “Basically since the highway.”

“Well, it’s a little awkward, knowing you and Asher had a relationship,” he said, making a face. “You’re a sister, to me.”

Erika remained quiet, her eyes turning off to stare ahead of them. A few seconds later, her hand pulled away from his.

“I still really care about you,” he said quickly, his expression tight. “And I’ll do everything I can to get your Asher back as soon as we can. I just...”

“I’ve never even heard of anything that can do what you’re suggesting, Ash,” she whispered. “I’ve hunted my entire life. Monsters can’t manipulate time. They can body swap, I’ll give you that, but not through time.”

He stared at her. “What are you saying? There has to be one, at least. The woman with the blue eyes and tattoos, we just need to figure out what she is.”

Her eyes dropped, staring down at her injured torso. “I’ve heard of hunters cracking,” she said. “Losing their minds because the work is too much or too hard. I’ve heard of them developing dissociative personality disorder.”

“ _No_.” He didn’t mean for it to come out so angry, but there was no denying the fury building in him. “That’s not what’s happening. I _know_ what happened. Why the hell would my brain invent it?”

Erika didn’t answer, swallowing hard, her eyes not meeting his.

“Stop it. You didn’t say any of this last night, you went off to face _vampires_ based on the fact that I couldn’t handle it, you know this isn’t just some mental break.”

“It’s happened before,” she whispered.

He felt ice run down his back. “To who?”

“It was like this last time you were close to the nest.” Her voice was so low, it was almost hard to discern the words. “I thought you were possessed. It went away after a couple days. Usually I can tell. This time you started in a little differently than I was used to.”

His whole body was tense. “But... I don’t remember. All I remember is my other life, with Mike and Mom and Luke.”

“You never do. I’ve tried to bring you back, but nothing I say reaches you. I just have to... wait.” Her voice broke a little and she closed her eyes, bringing one hand up to rub them.

“You used to run a website with Luke. You were a bartender. You never told me your brother’s name before, but you... you loved him. Idolized him. He was your hero. You don’t remember your dad because he died when you were little. You used to keep his photo in your wallet, and you got so angry when you opened your wallet and didn’t see it there, but there was a hunt with a water spirit about six years ago and it disintegrated.” She had started to cry.

Asher didn’t want her to cry; he didn’t want her to hurt. But he felt like he was crumbling inside. How would she know those things? His eyes felt like they were burning. “There was...” his voice broke. “I had a dream last night. I thought it was real. I followed you to the nest, and Mike was there. He was a vampire. We all died and I woke up.”

“You didn’t die, Baby,” she whispered, her hand finding his again and gripping hard. “We almost didn’t get out. You were knocked out and I had to drag you and Marin both.”

“Wait, what? I had the dream before?”

“You were _there_ before,” Erika told him, sweeping one hand under either eye. “Last time it happened. Fucker broke my arm. I was in a cast for four months. Marin had a concussion. She was so pissed with me.”

He swallowed hard. “Did...did Mike...”

“Like I said,” she told him, her voice quiet and grave. “You’d never told me his name before.”

Everything in Asher twisted. He nodded, his voice rough as he said, “You did the right thing. He wouldn’t want to live like that.” It sounded like wind was rushing in his ears, and he got to his feet in a fugue. Without a word, he went for the bathroom, a sob breaking through before he closed the door.

* * *

_“Asher!”_

_“Ash, where are you!?”_

_“Goddammit, don’t do this to me!”_

_“ASHER!”_

Asher twitched, pain searing through his shoulders. They pressed against his ears and he tried to move, but he couldn’t feel the rest of his arms.

_“Oh, god... ASH! Ash, c’mon. C’mon, please, wake up. Wake--”_

“Mike?” he rasped, trying to open his eyes. Even the faint light burned.

But Mike wasn’t there. Just the hotel room, the chair brought over to the side of the bed so he could stretch his legs out onto it as he slept. Erika’s eyes were still closed and her breathing even, but there was a flush to her face. He shifted to his feet, rolling the phantom soreness from his shoulders. He set a light hand against her forehead, just to be sure it was a good flush.

She did seem warm, and there was a thin film of stickiness to her skin, but nothing serious. The little touch was enough to have her stir slightly in her sleep.

“Ash...”

“Hey,” he said quietly. “How are you feeling?”

“Like a million bucks,” she mumbled, her eyes opening and her head tilting a little toward him. “You?”

He settled on the bed so she didn’t have as far to look. “Confused,” he admitted. “I heard Mike, in my dream.”

Her hand found his, giving it a small squeeze. “It was just a dream.”

He nodded though his brow was still knit. “It hurt. It felt very real.”

Erika’s hand squeezed his again, then brought it up to graze her lips over the back of it. “I know.”

Asher decided not to press the issue. She needed rest, and it didn’t do any good to argue. Besides, it didn’t make sense, his mind jumping back and forth between worlds. He’d never had dreams like that before. At least not that he could remember. He swallowed.

“So, I need to get you breakfast. I don’t think this place does room service.”

That was enough to make her smile slightly, but the smile faded off just as quickly as it came. Color rose in her face.

“Actually, um. I... need a bit of help before you leave.”

“Sure, anything.”

Her eyes closed and she pulled a face, one hand coming up to cover her eyes. “Bathroom?”

“Oh! Shit, yeah, sorry, um.” He got to his feet, his hands moving awkwardly. “What should I grab?”

Her lips twisted in a small smile and she looked up at him again, clearly amused by the question enough to feel her own awkwardness fading a little.

“Help me sit up?”

“Okay, but stop me if anything hurts.” Biting his lip uncertainly, he leaned over, sliding a hand gently behind her back and lifting her forward. Once again her eyes closed, but this time she winced and held on tightly to his side. 

“Kay,” she said in a tight voice. “That was the hard part.”

“Well, let’s get you to your feet, then you can say that,” he said, easing her along. Additional hurts she seemed unaware of existing seemed to spark to awareness and her grip on his side tightened.

“ _Fuck me,_ ” she hissed.

He froze, waiting for the okay. With a nod once he saw the pain had passed, they started moving slowly for the door. It seemed to take an age, but he finally had her in front of the toilet.

“Just leave me a length of rope to hang myself with. I’ll be fine,” she said, head dropping down to her chest as he knelt in front of her to help her undo her pants. 

He had to smile even as he tried not to look at what he was doing. “I think Marin would shoot me.”

“I’ll write her a note first,” she replied. “You can go for a bit. I think I can handle at least these two parts without you.”

“Alright. Give a shout when you need me.”

As he shut the door behind him, the light suddenly changed. The bright early morning sun coming in through the windows was gone, and the room itself seemed dark and cold. It was like seeing something through a camera lense, not quite happening to him, but there was Mike, being dragged up to a meat hook next to him, unconscious and bleeding from a cut in his forehead. The blue-eyed woman with tattoos was there again, but the moment their eyes connected her hand came up to touch his face, and everything seemed to refocus with Asher on his knees in the hotel room.

He breathed hard, running his hands over his too-short hair. “She’s got Mike. No, no, no, no,” he pleaded under his breath.

“Asher?”

Erika’s voice sounded a little panicked.

“S-sorry,” he said, pushing to his feet. It was this world, _this_ was the dream. And the blue-eyed woman wanted him to stay here. He opened the door, staring at her. Erika blinked up at him, her face pulled tight in concern, the sound of the toilet tank finishing making the room go quiet.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“No,” he said, heart clenching. “I’m sorry, but you’re not real. And Mike needs me. I need to wake up.”

“What?” Erika’s eyes went wide, her head shaking rapidly. “Ash, don’t. Not now. Please, I can’t-- I can’t _help_ you when I’m like this. Please don’t do anything stupid.”

“ _Stop it!_ ” he snapped. “You’re fine! You’re not _real_ , so you’re _fine!_ ”

Erika tried desperately to pull her pants up past her hips and to stand, and she let out a choked noise with pain and urgency, but she managed to stand even though tears and sweat were in ample supply.

“Asher, listen to me. You have to be calm. The more upset you get, the more you trigger yourself. They’ll go away, I promise they will, they _always_ do.”

“This isn’t happening when I fall asleep, it happened right now, in the other room, and Mike is _bleeding!_ So if I have to trigger myself to save him, then I don’t care!”

“God, I swear, every time it progresses faster.” Her hands came up to take his face, thumbs resting on the apples of his cheeks. “Your brother’s dead, Ash. You saw it with your own eyes. It wasn’t a dream. Stay with me, _please._ ”

“ _This_ is the dream,” he said, his expression crumpling as his hands covered hers. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. The blue-eyed woman is making me dream this.”

Erika sobbed, both with pain and fear as she leaned up the best she could and kissed him desperately. He couldn’t bring himself to pull away but he didn’t give in either, trapped in a helpless limbo.

He felt her suddenly thrash against him, her hands moving instead to clutch his shoulders as her knees buckled. Blood pooled down from her lips, but it wasn’t Erika’s face anymore.

It was her. The woman. Before he even had a moment to respond, everything around him went suddenly dark, as though a lightbulb had flashed and broken.

“ _C’mon, c’mon, breathe for me, Ash. Breathe!_ ”

The floor shifted unsteadily beneath him and he struggled to open his eyes. “‘Rika?” he breathed. “Did I fall?”

Erika smiled down at him, stroking his face. He felt two warm drops land on his forehead.

“You stupid jerk. You scared the hell out of us.”

He frowned, his vision still a bit blurry. His arms were tingling. “Did Marin come back?”

Erika’s face pinched, but it was another voice that answered him.

“We got the call from Luke that you were here. It’s just us.”

He jerked violently, trying to sit up but the world spinning. “ _Mike!_ ”

“Easy,” Erika told him, already shifting to settle behind him and help him up by propping him back against her. Mike was on the ground too, rubbing his wrists and scowling.

“What the hell were you thinking, coming here alone?”

The relief twisted, his hands tightening. “She got you, too,” he accused.

“That’s because I didn’t know what we were up against, and she got the freakin’ jump on me, don’t change the subject--”

“Boys,” Erika interrupted, her voice close to Asher’s ear and her hands finding his wrists, rubbing them. “Not now, okay? Let’s just get to a hotel and clean you up.”

Asher pulled his hands away, sitting up and away from Erika. Then it hit him, something he hadn’t been able to wrap his brain around when in the dream. “A djinn. She was a djinn.”

Erika nodded, frowning a little. Mike continued to scowl at him.

“At least you were smart enough to tell Luke where you were going,” his older brother growled. “We never would have found you, Ash. She crushed your phone to bits. You would have died here.”

“I’m not an idiot,” Asher snapped. “And if you stopped spending all your time standing in my way and started _teaching_ me something, I wouldn’t have had to come alone.”

“I told you before, dammit: this isn’t a _game_ , Ash. People _die_ in this life. You almost _died--!_ ”

“Michael, that’s enough,” Erika snapped. Mike’s face grew red with agitation and shame, but he kept his mouth shut. Erika turned to look at Asher with the same irritated look she’d given Mike.

“Both of you, get in the car and shut up.”

“I brought my own car,” Asher said, his tone strained. “I’ll follow you.”

“You’re in no state to drive,” Erika argued, leaving no room to negotiate. “You’ve been hanging for three days. You need to eat and rest.” She turned her eyes to her husband, her jaw tightening for a moment before turning her gaze back to the younger Paulson. “I’ll drive you.”

He just stared back at her. “Three days? ...Fuck.” That meant he missed work last night. Not just scrambled to switch shifts, but completely blew it off. At least that’s how Annette would see it. “I have to go home,” he said, pulling his keys from his pocket. They jangled lightly in his shaking hand. Erika snatched them out of his hand before he even got a good grip on them.

“We handled it,” Mike said, as though reading his mind. “You’ve got pneumonia. Erika’s dad’s doctor-friend already wrote you up a note and notified your boss, and they’re baby-sitting the miner until we get back so mom’s not tapped out.” As he stood on unsteady legs, Erika moved to loop her arm around Asher’s back and help him up as well. His head spun but he didn’t falter.

“Geez, that why you took so long?”

“No,” Erika answered solemnly. “She took your phone and led it out of the city. She was smart. We came here first but we couldn’t find you until we found her and tracked her back.”

Asher finally fell quiet, his body feeling heavy. He really, truly could have died. And this was the kind of thing Mike and Erika did all the time. “Thanks,” he finally murmured, eyes focused on the floor.

“You know we wouldn’t have abandoned you,” Erika reassured him. She turned her head toward her husband briefly. “We’ll be right behind you.”

Mike nodded, looking at Asher for a few lingering seconds before heading off. Erika led Asher slowly but surely out of the warehouse, out of what appeared to be a boiler room and up through the basement levels until they reached the main floor.

The drive faded into a blur, Asher’s head sagging against the window. When the car stopped, he jerked violently, his wide eyes turning to Erika. “Wait, what about your ribs?”

Erika blinked at him, frowning for a moment, before realization dawned on her face. She gave him a sympathetic smile, moving a hand over to squeeze his knee lightly.

“Wrong Marvelverse, hon,” she reassured him, killing the engine and dropping the keys into her jacket pocket before coming around to his side to help him out. He sheepishly ran his hand through his hair, another reminder of what world--that he was in the real world.

“You tried to convince me this was all a dream,” he said quietly, taking her help. Her frown deepened as she slid an arm around his waist. Once they were at the door, she gave a knock, but Mike didn’t come to answer it.

“Probably fallen asleep already,” she said quietly, fumbling in her pocket to find the card key. She was silent long enough to open it, then led them both through and immediately toward the bathroom.

“So I was there?”

He nodded, not meeting her eyes. Once she had him sitting on the closed toilet seat, she went to get the first aid kit from where Mike had left it in the main room. As she tipped his chin up to study his face and before she could ask, he said, “Mike was dead. He’d been a vampire.”

Her eyes lifted, expression pinching in remembered horror.

“You didn’t know him,” he added quickly. “You never even met him. I don’t know why.”

“Djinns reach inside your subconscious and pull out your deepest desires,” she said quietly, pulling out an alcohol pad and opening the packet to start cleaning the cuts on his face. “Sometimes they have to cut corners.”

“I’d _never_ want Mike dead,” he said, heat to his voice. “I didn’t want anything in that world.” Then he hesitated. “Except... Except I was a hunter. A good one.”

Erika was silent in response, her face creased with concern. After taking out a few butterfly bandages and applying them to a gash just above his cheekbone, she dropped her hands to the button-up of his overshirt. He jerked back violently, nearly falling off the toilet.

“What are you doing?!”

Erika frowned. “Checking to see if you’re bruised or hurt anywhere else. She beat the shit out of you, Ash.”

“I can check myself,” he said quickly, feeling a blush rise to his face. Erika rolled her eyes at him.

“Do you even know what to look for?”

“It’s not my fault you two never taught me shit,” he snapped, a little surprised at the anger that rushed up in him.

“Hey, don’t blame me,” she countered in a hard voice, knocking his hands away and working his buttons open with a lot more force. “It’s not my job to be your teacher.”

He gripped to the sides of the toilet seat to keep from stopping her. “So you _don’t_ think I should know how to fucking protect myself? That I gotta hope you and Mike are always there?”

“That’s between you and your brother,” she said, dropping her eyes from his face and grabbing his undershirt to pull it up, but not over his head. She dropped down on her knees to look a little more closely. “I’m not getting between that.”

“You should _care_. Especially since I’m watching your damn kid half the time.”

“I know you know enough to take care of yourself, Asher,” she said flatly. “Luke and Kat wouldn’t have let you just come back with their stamp of approval if they didn’t.” He felt her fingertips ghost over each of his ribs with the lightest of pressure before she pulled his shirt back down. “Bruised, but not broken. That’s good.” The words were said mostly to herself and while she was still on the ground, she started untying his shoes and pulling them carefully from his feet.

He was scowling, every muscle in his shoulders tense even as he drew deep breaths through his nose. “Y’know,” he finally said, “some parents don’t even take the same flight when they go on vacation. In case one of the planes crash.”

Erika’s eyes immediately shot up to his face and she stood. In an instant she was up close enough to kiss, but it was very obvious by the fury in her expression that her intentions were far from it.

“Don’t even go there with me, Ash,” she hissed. “Because then you’re not just insulting me and your brother, you’re insulting my entire family.”

“So?” he said, not backing down. “Maybe you both need to _think_ instead of just following tradition.”

“You suddenly think you know everything because of what some djinn put in your head?” she countered. “I’m out there making my world safe for _my son._ If I didn’t grow up in this life, your brother would have been dead or _worse._ The only person you have to blame for nearly dying tonight is yourself; don’t you _dare_ try to blame me.”

“I know. But better me than Mike. Better me than _you_.” He swallowed hard, letting out a long breath before saying. “Any food on you?”

“I’m nursing, you creep,” she bit out, but her lips quirked slightly even as she said it, pulling back and away from his face. “Pizzas should be here soon. I have a couple protein bars in my bag. I’ll go get ‘em.”

He nodded, trying to push everything else away. Of everyone in this hotel room, Erika was the one he was least mad at. She was just the handiest target. When she left, he pushed up to his feet again, going to the sink and looking in the mirror. A couple bruises, deep and purple after having days to set. He lifted his shirt, fingering the matching set on his torso, feeling along the ribs as Erika had. Not broken; not like hers had been. He swallowed hard.

Erika knocked lightly on the door before opening it, two bars in hand and a bottle of juice in the other. Her face looked that much more drawn when she entered, with a blotchy flush around her eyes.

“Here.”

“Thanks,” he said, opening the juice first. “And I’m sorry. I should be gagged until my brain gets over whatever the djinn put it through.”

She moved to lean back against the sink next to him, her hands settling on the edge and her eyes forward rather than on him.

“It’s not the easiest thing to recover from,” she said quietly. “Never actually been grabbed by one before, but I’ve read lore and stories.” Letting out a small sigh, she reached behind her head to pull out the band holding her braid together, then started to separate the strands. “She must’ve had a tough time building up a world for you if you were so unhappy with it.”

Asher shrugged. “He might have been happy with it. He loved someone. Or at least she loved him. He was doing something that mattered. What happened to Mike still hurt him, but everyone has something like that. Only reason I wasn’t happy was I knew it wasn’t real.”

There was a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on for days before she found one of his hands, the knuckles still crusted over with dried blood, and laced her fingers through his. She gave it a gentle squeeze.

“She still loves him,” she said in the same small voice. “Just not the way he maybe wishes she did.”

He jerked his hand away, sputtering. “No. No, no, no. Jesus,” he said, almost with a laugh. “I’m not hiding feelings for you. That was a different me and a different you. So yeah, different lifetime, sure, but believe me, in this one, you’re very much in the sister category.”

She gave him a weak smile, then licked her lips as if to say something before her phone interrupted her.

“That’ll be Pizza Guys. Go ahead and wash up. They’ll still be warm when you get out.”

As soon as she left, Asher dropped his head, giving a groan. The look she gave him wasn’t exactly one of belief. But he could honestly say he wasn’t harboring anything for her. Yes, she was hot, and clearly in any other world he would happily tap that, but in this one she wasn’t even part of the rotation in his fantasy life.

And he’d gone and worked so hard at _not_ having sex with her alternate self so not to end up looking at her funny only to have her looking at him funny now. One more thing to add to his pile of fuck-ups.

Sighing, he stripped, determined to just wipe it from his mind for now.

g out a small sigh, she reached behind her head to pull out the band holding her braid together, then started to separate the strands. “She must’ve had a tough time building up a world for you if you were so unhappy with it.”

Asher shrugged. “He might have been happy with it. He loved someone. Or at least she loved him. He was doing something that mattered. What happened to Mike still hurt him, but everyone has something like that. Only reason I wasn’t happy was I knew it wasn’t real.”

There was a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on for days before she found one of his hands, the knuckles still crusted over with dried blood, and laced her fingers through his. She gave it a gentle squeeze.

“She still loves him,” she said in the same small voice. “Just not the way he maybe wishes she did.”

He jerked his hand away, sputtering. “No. No, no, no. Jesus,” he said, almost with a laugh. “I’m not hiding feelings for you. That was a different me and a different you. So yeah, different lifetime, sure, but believe me, in this one, you’re very much in the sister category.”

She gave him a weak smile, then licked her lips as if to say something before her phone interrupted her.

“That’ll be Pizza Guys. Go ahead and wash up. They’ll still be warm when you get out.”

As soon as she left, Asher dropped his head, giving a groan. The look she gave him wasn’t exactly one of belief. But he could honestly say he wasn’t harboring anything for her. Yes, she was hot, and clearly in any other world he would happily tap that, but in this one she wasn’t even part of the rotation in his fantasy life.

And he’d gone and worked so hard at _not_ having sex with her alternate self so not to end up looking at her funny only to have her looking at him funny now. One more thing to add to his pile of fuck-ups.

Sighing, he stripped, determined to just wipe it from his mind for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Liking the alliterations yet? No? Well *I* thought they were funny...


End file.
